It is absolutely possible to work for a foreign employer and obtain a permit based on that to live in Switzerland (as an EU/EFTA national). You would also be considered a dual UK-CH resident for tax purposes. Contrary to what has been said here, no, obtaining residency in one country does not invalidate residency in another country.

If you continue working remotely whilst physically present in Switzerland your income will be subject to Swiss tax. As you have your tax withheld by PAYE in the UK, the HMRC and your cantonal tax authority would get in touch to settle amounts due. You will likely not need to put forward more cash as UK effective tax rate is higher than most Swiss canton/commune combinations.

When the UK was still part of the EU, you would have been able to request an exemption to pay for KVG because your only source of income was from an EU country and you would have been covered by your EHIC card. As this is no longer the case, you will have to take up Swiss health insurance if you continue living here.

EHIC never ever covered for health or accident, only the emergency part.

UK EHIC is no use to you here at all. If you are here as a tourist, them you need travel insurance. If you get a residence permit, you need Swiss health insurance.

I would have thought most accidents that required hospital treatment were emergencies

Precisely this. Getting another (CH) residency does not affect your UK residency.

Not necessarily. If OP has settled status in the UK, then being abroad poses no risk to their UK status.

Well yes, the emergency part! When I had my accident- I was in traction for 4.5 months, then another 3 months in hospital, with several major operations- followed by two years of rehab and physio. I am pretty sure EHIC would not have covered the lot- neither would it cover repatriation.

It would cover the emergency part, the NHS would cover the rest when you returned.

An interesting question- where would they have put the line on 'the emergency part'? After the first major operation? As it does not cover repatriation- I can only try and imagine the cost of repatriating someone in traction? Private place, with the bed and huge, heavy contraption.

Thats why you need insurance for the repatriation.
Emergency treatment is just that, once you are out of hospital you will have to pay for accommodation until 'fit to travel', that was 6 weeks after breaking my back in my case.

Do you know anyone who actually did this request? is not quite clear if thet don't have any type of deal with the Uk on this matter, or if having come before the end of the deal helps (the EHIC card is valid as long as it was taken before January for example) but I need to know how the actual process is from a real experience in terms of paper

EHIC is for up to 3 months abroad, not for someone who is now living in Switzerland. Stop taking the piss & pay for your health insurance like everybody else.

The amount of miss interpretation of the actual question and the uninformed answers is really impressive.

No one is taking the piss of anything, first of all, I am still here on my tourist allowing so I am getting my information right before making a decision, in terms of permits.

There are several permits and figures on terms of permits, and staying 2 months without intentions to stay after that is clearly different to some of the other status,
(matterson actually mentioned a few, and is contemplated on the Swiss regulation, so that is an answer more based on real facts )

What I am trying to gather here is the accurate information by someone who
was also in a similar position from a experienced point of view, not an opinion based on suppositions or mis readings.,
But thank you anyway.

Again, you are not a tourist. You are working in Switzerland remotely for a company and need a permit to do so. You are in breach of the rules and regulations.


A tourist does not work. And even if you got here to search for a job, which you can, you would still not be allowed to work until you got a permit.


And that is not an opinion but how them rules are.

You are asking a bunch of strangers, expats here, some who have decades of experience- but perhaps not specialists in the field on permits. They are telling you what they know, the facts as they have experienced them, studied them, discussed them before.

And you don't like what they say, because it is not what you want to hear.
So turning against them is not going to change the facts, or help you at all.

Bonne chance.

Again, interesting. When I was in traction for 4.5 months, I didn't just need 'accommodation' - but full nursing care. Traction means lying on a board, with pins through your Tibia or knee, leg up in the air and heavy weights hanging from the top over your bed. So washing, toilet (yes, the worst part), 100% care, and cleaning gaping wounds 3 times a day, etc, etc. So accommodation was the least of my worries. It would have been extremely difficult to safely repatriate me- the whole bed would have had to go into the plane or long haul ambulance. So just wondering what would have happened?

(car accident, I was just 19).

They would have probably paid for that, however not at the time of your accident as EHIC did not exist. I suspect they might have air lifted you back if they thought it would have been cheaper / feasible.

I´ve traveled a lot (way back) and that travel insurance always was for emergency treatment where you are and then get "shipped" back home.


Travel insurance at work was/is a different story but still the idea is to get back home as soon as possible.



But it might be different per country.

Put another way, Florpa, I think you need to separate out what you are defining as a tourist and what the Swiss government defines as a tourist.

I get the impression you think you have tourist status here because you have permanent residence elsewhere, are normally entitled to visit for up to 90 days without a visa, and you only intend to stay here a few more months.

But just because you have felt like a tourist these past few months doesn't mean you are one from a legal standpoint. As others have already pointed out, a tourist is someone who visits a country for leisure or personal purposes and does not work. The fact that the UK allows you to maintain your residence while being absent for up to six months is neither here nor there as far as the Swiss authorities are concerned. You are currently residing in this country and are gainfully employed abroad but doing the work here, and you are now several months into your stay. This does not fit in with the Swiss rules.

This might not be what you want to hear, but even the person you asked at the commune said "residence or nothing". What other information are you expecting to get from this forum? You have already received exactly correct advice from the authorities.

What has been said about the EHIC on here is total fake news.

EU/EFTA/Swiss pensioners (including UK pensioners moving here up to 31.12.2020) receiving a non-Swiss pension (and receiving zero funds from a Swiss pension) are fully covered by their respective EHIC, are not obliged to take out Swiss KVG and care is equivalent to having Swiss KVG.

I think that is exactly what JackieO said? Apart from that, OP is not a pensioner.